Chapter Fifty-Six

By the time I got to the kitchen, Grant had already made us both sandwiches.

"Here you go," he said, sliding my plate across the counter to me.

"Thank you chef," I said, catching my plate but not touching my sandwich yet. I needed to talk to Grant first.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yup. I wanna talk to you about something though."

Grant sat down and leaned forward, all his attention on me.

"Shoot."

"What if we took a break from SHIELD?"

"What do you mean?" asked Grant, his eyebrows knitting together.

"I mean, what if we left SHIELD for a little while, just until all this crap with Garrett is over?"

Grant paused, and I could tell he was going crazy, back and forth in his head. Finally, he spoke.

"Doesn't the team need us?"

"I already talked to Coulson, and he said they could manage without us."

Grant nodded slowly, then spoke up again. "I think... I think that sounds perfect. I don't want to leave SHIELD for good, but a break might be good right now."

"That's what I was thinking. I don't want to be gone forever either, but we need a step back." I didn't tell Grant that I wanted to get him far, far away from Garrett because I didn't want to embarrass him, but I got the feeling he understood.

Grant took a deep breath. "Let's do it."

"Alright. I'll go tell Coulson our decision."

"I'll start packing." He pushed off the counter, and I picked up my sandwich to take with me to Coulson's office. Packing wasn't going to take long, since we only had whatever our team had brought for us, and then we would be just about ready to go.

I headed back to Coulson's office to tell him our decision. He understood and it honestly seemed like he was expecting it. After talking to him, I went to go find Grant.

"Hey," I said, swinging into the room. He was zipping up our bags. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah. I am." He looked relieved, and I realized I was, too. SHIELD meant the world to me, but it would be nice to take a break from all the danger and deceit crap and just be with Grant, like normal people.

"Alright. Then let's go." I took my bag, and we walked towards the door. We were going to walk into the nearest town, and then go from there.

When we got to the door, we found the whole team waiting for us. Even Koenig!

"You didn't think you could leave without saying goodbye, did you?" asked Skye.

"Of course not." I smiled and pulled her into a hug, dropping my bag by the door. I couldn't hug properly if I was trying to hold a duffel bag.

"I'm going to miss having you around," said Skye.

"Same here. This isn't forever though. This is just goodbye for now."

Skye nodded and I pulled away. She had a sad smile on her face as I turned to Fitz and Simmons.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much," I said, pulling them both into a hug.

"We'll miss you too," said Simmons.

"So much," added Fitz.

I gave them both an extra-tight squeeze, then pulled away.

"I think I'm going to take some science classes while I'm gone, although I can't image I'll have a teacher anywhere near as good as the two of you." They both grinned as I moved to talk to May.

She looked as stoic as ever, but that had never bothered me before. She was like a surrogate mother to me, despite being so withdrawn, so I threw my arms around her. After a minute, she gave me a small pat on the back before I pulled away.

"We're going to miss you around here Samantha."

"Likewise. And don't worry May. Everything will work out okay." I'd noticed the recent tension between her and Coulson, and I hoped I'd managed to at least comfort her a little.

She gave a curt nod, and I turned to Phil. He was actually like a dad to me, pretty much all the time. As I hugged him, I was actually finding it hard not to cry.

"It's gonna be weird not seeing you around all the time," he said. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears too, which only made things worse.

"For real. I'm so glad you asked me to join this team. I can't wait to rejoin once all this is over. You've been like a dad to me since you recruited me to SHIELD, so thank you for that."

Phil gave me a tight squeeze, then pulled away. He tried to be discreet, but I could see him wipe away a tear.

"Damn. Is this what my parents felt when I left for college?"

I laughed and wiped away a couple tears of my own.

"Don't worry. I'll be back, and almost definitely in less than four years."

Coulson nodded, and I turned back to Grant. He'd finished saying his goodbyes, too. I held out my hand and he took it, then we both turned towards the doorway.

"Koenig. Take good care of the team."

He nodded and gave me a salute, which I returned before picking up my bag with my free hand.

"You ready?" I asked, looking at Grant.

"Ready."

The door slid open in front of us, revealing the normal world outside the secret SHIELD base.

"Let's go then."

We stepped out into the snowy landscape and started walking, neither of us looking back as the door slid closed behind us.

****************

"This remind you of anything?" I asked as we kept trekking through the Canadian wilderness.

"Siberia?" asked Grant, apparently reading my mind.

"Yup."

"C'mon. It's not that cold."

"Yeah, yeah, but you get my point." We walked in comfortable silence for a while longer, and then I spoke up again. "So what's our plan once we get back to civilization?"

"I don't know... what do you want to do?"

"Well, we have to find some place to live. We should have plenty to get by on for a while, especially if we use some of our old drop boxes. So where do we want to go?"

"Back to the States?"

"For sure. That's home to me."

"New York?"

I paused. "I don't know... what do you think?"

"I think it's too close to SHIELD."

"Yeah, I think you're right. So where?"

"Let's think about it. We don't have to decide yet."

I nodded. Honestly, I didn't really care where we ended up. I was just happy to be with Grant.

****************

"Where to?" asked the woman at the ticket counter. Grant and I were at the nearest Canadian airport, buying one-way tickets to our new home for a while.

"San Diego, California," I answered, smiling at Grant as I spoke.

"Alright, and you said one-way?"

"We did," answered Grant.

"Great. Here you go. Soonest flight out, but you should just make it. Have a nice flight."

We thanked her, then rushed for our plane. She wasn't kidding about just making it; takeoff was in 20 minutes!

We barely collapsed into our seats in time. I was next to the window, and Grant was right next to me. It was like we were in our own world, starting a new adventure just the two of us, like old times.

As we took off, I watched the earth get smaller and smaller out the window. Grant leaned over so we were shoulder to shoulder and took my hand.

"Here we go."

"Yeah..."

"Are you going to miss it?"

"Maybe after a while." I turned away from the window to look at Grant. We were nose to nose. "But now, I'm just excited to be starting a new, normal life with you."

Grant smiled and closed the gap between us, giving me a sweet kiss. We broke apart pretty quickly since we were in public, but it was still a great start.

I leaned back in my chair and rested my head against Grant's shoulder. This was going to be a long plane ride, and I wanted a nap.

"You know, I think there's one thing I'm going miss about SHIELD right away," I mumbled, eyes still closed.

"What?"

"The Quinjets."

Grant laughed, and it was so nice to hear that sound after everything we'd been through.

"I think I have to agree with you there Slater."

I just smiled in return as I drifted off to sleep. Before I was all the way out, Grant leaned a little closer to say something.

"I love you Samantha," he said, barely above a whisper.

"I love you too Grant," I said, opening my eyes to look at him. I didn't know where this new path would take us, or how long we'd be on it, but I was sure Grant and I would meet any challenges that came our way.

We would always do well as long as we were together.

The End.